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| Gartner Predicts 80 Percent of External Storage Will Be Networked by 2005 |
| Analysts Examine Outlook for Storage Networking During Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2001 |
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida, October 10, 2001 - Driven by the increasing demand for managed storage, 80 percent of external storage will be networked by 2005, according to Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). The future of storage is being discussed at Gartner's flagship conference, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2001, taking place October 8-12 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Gartner analysts said most enterprises expect their storage capacity to double every year. For many Internet data centers, the growth is even more dramatic, as they report a doubling in capacity every quarter or sooner. The current installed terabytes of storage increase 50 to 100 percent per year. Businesses are having to adopt network storage strategies to avoid considerable staff growth. "Most of our clients report that they can afford to buy storage, but they can't manage it," said Nick Allen, vice president and research director for Gartner. "The main reason for this shortfall is that storage management tools have not yielded sufficient productivity gains to cope with such high growth rates. Gartner's view is that none of the large, established storage management vendors will be able to provide such gains." Gartner therefore expects businesses to adopt strategies that entail new storage architectures and new vendors. According to Gartner, winning strategies and vendors will be those that help the user scale storage tenfold without the need to add staff. "Enterprises should demand that vendors provide a cost-saving estimate for their SAN or NAS offerings that includes both acquisition costs and total cost of ownership," Allen said. Gartner maintains that storage networks must consist of two tiers. The first tier, the storage plumbing tier, provides connectivity between nodes in a network and transports device-oriented commands and status to at least one storage node. The second, or software tier, provides value-added services that operate over the first tier. According to Gartner, to qualify as a storage network, a configuration must provide separate value via software that operates across connected nodes. Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the IT industry's largest and most strategic conference, providing business leaders with a look today at the future of IT. For more than 10,000 IT professionals from the world's leading enterprises, Gartner's annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of their annual planning efforts, and a place to gain insights into how their organizations can use technology to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency. For more information online, go to www.gartner.com/symposium. About Gartner, Inc.
Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., and has 4,600 associates, including 1,400 research analysts and consultants, in more than 80 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2000 revenues of $855 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.
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Contact: Danielle Westling Gartner 203-316-6754 danielle.westling@gartner.com |
